The Southeast Asia Bible Seminary (SEABS) instructs students from around Indonesia and other nearby countries from its campus in Malang, East Java. It offers several degrees, including a Bachelor of Divinity, multiple masters degrees, and a Doctor of Ministry. To match the needs of an expanding student body, SEABS has added new buildings and infrastructure to its facilities. Most recently, the school added a 1,600-seat auditorium and a 150-seat recital hall, both of which required high-impact sound reinforcement. A/V integration firm PT Gracia Auvindo of Jakarta designed and installed those systems using the Symetrix Solus 8 open-architecture processor and the Symetrix Jupiter 4 fixed-architecture processor, both of which offered cost-effective performance perfectly tailored to the needs of the school.

“The school officials asked for a very clear and intelligible sound reinforcement system,” said T.S. Phan, engineer with PT Gracia Auvindo. “They wanted excellent dispersion and coverage for all of the seats in both venues.” The auditorium will be used for very large services (an existing sanctuary hosts SEABS’ regular services) and for other large events, such as graduation ceremonies. In contrast, the new recital hall will be used for small services, seminars, and overflow from the auditorium.

A new Midas mixing console serves as the input and control hub in the auditorium. On-stage microphones, piano, and band instruments provide the bulk of the input material. The console sends signal directly to a Coda Audio house PA via CAMCO amplifiers. However, console output is also distributed to the basement, the first floor public areas, and the second floor by way of the Symetrix Solus 8 processor. For the distributed system, QSC amplifiers provide power to Ecler ceiling-mounted loudspeakers. The Symetrix Solus 8 also provides output for Coda Audio side-fill, out-fill, front-fill, and backfill loudspeakers.

“The Symetrix Solus 8 was a cost-effective choice,” said Phan. “It not only gave us the high-fidelity sound asked for by the client, but also gave us open-architecture flexibility to design exactly what was needed. For example, I could insert two channels of feedback fighters on the stage side-fills, where it was needed, without wasting that resource on the other outputs, where it wasn’t needed.”

The recital hall is considerably simpler. Input sources such as stage microphones and a few band instruments feed a small Midas mixer, which in turn feeds a Symetrix Jupiter 4 fixed-architecture processor. From there, CAMCO amplifiers power a Coda Audio loudspeaker system consisting of stereo full-range boxes paired with stereo subwoofers. Phan used a “Sound Reinforcement” app to configure the Symetrix Jupiter 4 with appropriate input/output structure and processing blocks. “The Symetrix Jupiter 4 is a very simple, cost-effective DSP for this type of application,” said Phan. “I just chose an appropriate app using the Symetrix App Finder on the Symetrix webpage, loaded it up on the unit, and made a few parameter adjustments, and it was ready to go!”